• At a Glance: Not only is Carey Price getting the job done in front of the net, he contribute to the offence on Wednesday night as the Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 5-3 at the Bell Centre. Price earned an assist on Jeff Halpern’s third-period goal 6:56 into the period to give the Canadiens a 4-2 lead. The goal came at a good time because John Tavaeres scored only 13 seconds into the third period to narrow Montreal’s lead to only one goal. Mathieu Darche opened the scoring 13:19 into the game when he deflected a Halpern shot from the point. Travis Moen made it 2-0 a few minutes later with his first goal of the year, a shorthanded tap-in behind Dwayne Roloson after a perfect pass from Tomas Plekanec. James Wisniewski narrowed the Montreal leader in the final minute of the period with a power-play goal. Plekanec made it 3-1 Montreal in the second period, with a wicked slap shot over Roloson’s shoulder for his fourth goal of the season. Doug Weight made it 4-3 Montreal with seven minutes to play when he deflected a Wisniewski shot from the blue line, his third point of the night. Andrei Kostitsyn sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute. Price made 18 saves for his sixth win of the season, while Roloson faced 35 shots on the night.

•Key Moments: Kostitsyn’s goal ended the drama after the Islanders had been pressing for the tying goal in the final two minutes and timely goals by the supporting cast helped the Canadiens win.

• What It Means: Montreal improves to 6-2-1 after nine games, good for 13 points. The Canadiens have now won five of their last six games are are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

• What’s Next: The Canadiens and Islanders play again on Friday in Long Island, with Montreal flying home right after that game to play the Panthers on Saturday night.